


Caretaker

by ashallee



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:08:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22055320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashallee/pseuds/ashallee
Summary: You took the job because the Child was adorable. You kept the job because of the Mandalorian. *Updated*
Relationships: Din Djarin & Reader, Din Djarin/Reader, Din Djarin/You, The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV) & Reader, The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader, The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/You
Comments: 9
Kudos: 413





	Caretaker

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in one sitting. I'm not too happy with it, but I just had to get it out.
> 
> **Update**  
> I made it longer, and fixed it up. I just had this idea in my head that Mando would need a 'nanny' for his lil' green baby. Enjoy!

“Here I come!” You called out playfully as the Child rounded to the other side of the ship, his giggle making you grin. This game of hide and seek had been going for at least an hour. And while he didn’t say anything, you knew Mando was grateful that you found a way to pass the time while they were stranded on…

Actually, you didn’t know what planet you were on. The ship had been caught in a firefight and was practically falling apart. Again. When you took this job, Mando had warned you that it wouldn’t be safe. 

“When was the last time the Galaxy was ‘safe’?” You countered, shrugging off his concern. You grew up during the rule of the Empire, where the risk of death or imprisonment was around every corner if you so much as thought of going against them. Even now that the Rebels had won, people were afraid to come out in support of them.

And from what you’ve seen in your recent ‘adventures’, the Empire still had the numbers to do serious damage.

“Where did you go, little one?” You saw the Child from the corner of your eye, but made a show of looking for him. An amused chirp emerged from underneath the ramp, but you didn’t want to end the game just yet. So you knocked on the side of the wall and listened to the echo, as if trying to hear if he was inside. 

“Why do I get the feeling you’re having more fun than he is?” A modulated voice was coloured with amusement as he sorted through his tools. Well, as much amusement as the Mandalorian ever displayed. You stuck your tongue out at him childishly and pointedly turned your back. You had stopped trying to impress him not too long after he hired you, getting the feeling that nothing would make him happy no matter how hard you tried. And you did try at first. You tried so hard to show him that you would excel at your work, but he never offered a word of praise other than the occasional “thank you”. So you gave up and just did what you thought was best, not bothering to act any differently than usual.

At least Mando was polite.

“Could you be...here? ” You opened one of the boxes that littered the surrounding area, knowing the Child wasn’t in there. “Hm…”

You could see Mando shaking his head. “Don't patronize him and act like you're talking to a baby.”

“Uh, he _is_ a baby. That’s why you hired me, remember?” You had been waiting tables on your home planet, living the same day over and over until Mando walked in. You offered him a beverage or food, and just before he shrugged you off, you saw the Child.

“Oh my _gosh_ ,” you breathed in amazement as he stared up at you with huge brown eyes and a curious tilt of his head. “What is it?”

The Mandalorian turned his head towards the creature, and you heard the fondness in his voice. “My kid.”

You tentatively reached out a finger, and the Child grasped it with all it’s little might.

And, that’s when Mando offered you the job.

It wasn’t too difficult; your duties extended to helping him keep his ship clean and preparing food when it was necessary. But your major responsibility was taking care of the Child, something you did happily. You cherished the time you spent with the darling little...whatever it was. But as much as you enjoyed it, you found that your thoughts always wandered to the mysterious Mandaldorian. 

You tried very hard to figure out what it was about him that fascinated you. Mando was somewhat of an enigma; he was lethal and calculating, like the time he took on five Troopers at once. But at the same time, he was so...gentle. You remembered when you hurt yourself during your first week aboard his ship; you didn’t anticipate the thrust of the jump into light-speed and you lost your footing and fell against some crates and hurt your arm. But the way Mando’s gloved fingers ran across the deep cut made you practically glow with tenderness. He barely said a word as he knelt down in front of you, but he cleaned the wound, bandaged you up and went back to his seat once you assured him you were fine. You supposed that was the moment you started looking at him as more than your employer, harbouring a secret affection for the masked bounty hunter. 

You also liked annoying him. But that was mostly to get some sort of reaction from him.

“Where are you, you little womp rat?” You walked over to the ramp, ready to catch the Child now. “Are you here ?” A squeal greeted you when you bent down to see the little guy reaching his arms out to you, wanting to be picked up, and you swung him into a hug with a laugh.

“Be careful with him,” Mando warned from his seat by the engine. But you only scoffed and tucked the Child under your arm to carry him like a sack. Mando was very protective of him, and you thought you even detected a tinge of jealousy at how quickly you two had bonded.

“He’s fine. My father used to carry me around like this all the time,” you assured the bounty hunter. “Quit being so grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy.” 

Oh, yes he was. 

You had become accustomed to his moods since spending so much time with him. You obviously couldn’t see his face to tell if he was smiling or frowning, but his body language was getting easier to read. Like now, after your teasing, his shoulders were tensed and his body went rigid. 

“Are you going to get this thing back up in the air, or what?” You questioned, sitting down next to him and bouncing the child on your knee. You hoped he would be in a playful mood, because you knew he enjoyed it when the two of you traded snarky comments with one another. It made things interesting, trying to one-up each other and seeing who would get the last word.

Didn’t seem like that was happening today, though.

“I’m working on it,” he muttered, his voice carefully deadpan.

You tilted your head and let your eyes roam the planes of his beskar helmet as the sun began to set behind him. “It’s going to get dark soon,” you tried to make your tone as soft as possible, trying to be cordial. “Maybe you should stop for tonight?”

“No.”

You hesitated before shrugging and cradled the Child in your arms when you stood to leave, frustrated in your attempt to be nice. “Suit yourself.” Just as you reached the ramp to go into the ship, Mando’s voice stopped you.

“Wait.”

You looked over your shoulder to see him walking toward you, his shoulders slumped in defeat and guilt. “I’m sorry.”

No further explanations, no elaborations on his apology. But he apologized, and that’s what mattered. It seemed like you weren’t the only one who got skilled in reading emotions.

You smirked and dropped the Child into his hands. “I’ll get dinner going.”

* * *

Nothing about him was “fatherly”. At least not in a traditional sense. 

When you first met him, you didn’t think Mando fit into the mold of a parent. He was a bounty _hunter_ , who was also being _hunted_. His kind of life was no life for a child; on the run, never settled in one place for too long, almost getting killed on a regular basis. But what the two of them had seemed to work. Whenever the Child looked at Mando with his enormous brown eyes, you saw the clear adoration on his little face. And though he never showed obvious affection, you knew the Mandalorian cared as deeply for the child as if they were of the same blood. You could tell in the way he ran a gentle finger down the bridge of the child’s nose, or when you heard the sound of his static-muffled chuckle as Mando watched the baby’s antics. You tried not to make it obvious that you witnessed these little moments between father and son, but you couldn’t help the smile that spread on your face when you saw them together. And whenever Mando glanced at you to see if you were watching, you quickly turned away, hiding your delight.

Dinner tonight was uneventful, as usual. You had made meat stew, feeling the need to eat something hearty to warm the bones because you felt the temperature already dropping. Mando initially didn’t like that you cooked for them. “You’re not our slave,” he insisted during one of your very first nights on the ship. But you liked cooking anyways, and set the plate down in front of him, defiantly ignoring his protests. The Child cooed now with glee as he grabbed at the chunks of meat with his hands, while Mando did what he typically did: nodded in thanks and left you to feed the baby on your own.

That first meal, half of you was curious to see how he ate without removing his helmet (which was clearly impossible), but the other half of you felt relief when he took the food with him into his bunker and shut the door. When he emerged a half-hour later, you had just begun washing up and he placed the dish next to you gently. You didn’t say a word, you didn’t question him about his helmet. You just lifted a corner of your mouth to acknowledge him and went back to your work.

After a moment, you heard him speak softly. 

“Thank you.” 

And you knew he meant it as more than just for dinner.

You weren’t too familiar with the way of the Mandalorians, but you _did_ know that he was not allowed to show his face to anyone. _Ever_ . It sort of made things easier, not seeing his face; if you were already so affected by his body language and voice, you didn’t want to think of what it would be like to actually look into his eyes and _see_ him. Plus, there was something captivating about not knowing what he looked like. The only thing you _did_ know what the colour of his skin; you caught him binding a wound he received from a blaster, and you nearly dropped to the ground from surprise. He had been turned away from you as he wrapped a bandage around his waist, the muscles in his arms and back taut with pain. You wanted nothing more than to help him, to feel his golden-bronzed skin under your fingertips. But you fled the room instead, and you were left with nothing but your own thoughts as to what the rest of him looked like.

Not that he wasn’t attractive with his armour on, because he _was_. But you still allowed yourself a daydream or two.

After dinner, the Child yawned (adorably) as Mando held him in the crook of his arm and leaned back in his seat. Silence filled the ship, and you reached for the small basket of sewing supplies you had hidden under the table to catch up on a project that you had been meaning to finish. As hard as you tried to focus, the needle and thread were not co-operating as you tried looping them together, and you cursed under your breath in frustration.

“What are you doing?”

Mando’s voice startled you, and you looked up from where you were sitting to find his helmet turned toward you. He had been sitting so still, you thought he was asleep. 

“I’m, uh…” You hesitated before holding up the thing in your hands. “I’m making a toy. Or at least, I’m trying to.”

He tilted his head, and you imagined his eyes narrowing in curiosity.

“For the kid?’

You scoffed and replied in a deadpan voice. “No. For you.”

He allowed a small laugh at your tone. "What is it supposed to be?"

A few stitches went haphazardly across the back of the doll as you sighed in frustration. "I was _trying_ to make it look like him," you jerked your chin to the baby, who blinked at you, "but we didn't have any green fabric." The doll was grey skinned (from salvaged from Mandos old, tattered cape) and brown robed, with one ear bigger than the other and the eyes stitched with black thread were too big for the face. "And I'm also terrible at this."

Mando looked down at the Child who squeaked up at him and then reached his hands out towards you. You handed the doll over and the baby squeezed it tightly, clearly delighted, and his ears twitched up and down. 

"I think he likes it," Mando observed, and if you had to guess, you would say he was smirking at you. You smiled back as the Child snuggled his face into the toy's head, feeling as though you were about to burst with love for the little creature. “You really care about the kid, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Your eyes had wandered down to the Child, watching him, until you brought them back to Mando’s face. “What?”

“You’re a very good nanny.”

You felt your eyebrows furrowing at the compliment, a little offended that Mando only saw you that way. _The nanny_. Well, you supposed it was too much to hope for that he ever saw you differently. The only person he’d ever even came close to caring about was Omera, the widow he had befriended on Sorgan. Shaking your head to clear it of depressing thoughts, you pointed to the toy.

“I’m glad he likes it.” The baby turned his head to you as he gnawed on one of the doll’s ears. "I mean, it’s not exactly top quality, but this isn’t exactly a typical family, either."

"Family." Mando's voice was soft, reflective. "Yeah, I guess we are a family."

"Did _you_ ever have a family? Before you became a Mandalorian?" You were met with silence, and immediately regretted asking him. You suddenly realized you knew _nothing_ about this bounty hunter, even after months of living in the same space. You didn’t even know his _name_. “Did you ever have a home?”

“I had parents,” he murmured finally, surprising you. “My mother and father. They must have loved me very much, because they gave up their lives to save me.”

“I’m sorry.” Another beat of silence. “You don’t have to tell me anything, you know. I didn’t mean to pry. I mean, I’m only the nanny, right?”

“No you’re not. You’re more than that.” 

You froze at his words. He hadn’t meant to say that; you could tell by the way his hand tightened into a fist. But if there was one thing you learned about this man, it was his refusal to back down. Say what you will about the Mandalorian, but he was certainly no coward. “I know it’s not easy, being stuck here with us. But you’ve been a big help and I appreciate it. I honestly don’t know what I would do if you weren’t around.”

It was the most praise you’d gotten since you were hired, and you found it difficult to respond without your face going warm. “Thanks.” 

“Din.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My real name is Din Djarin. Just so you know.”

“ _Din Djarin_ ,” you whispered, testing the feel of it in your mouth, and you suddenly knew why he had told you. It was a way of him showing how he trusted you. And with a spontaneous impulse, you reached over and hugged him, mindful of the baby that still rested in his arm. You squeezed your eyes shut at you held him a moment longer before feeling his free arm wrap around your waist, his gloved hand finding purchase at the curve of your hip. You froze in his embrace, unsure of what to do next; you’d never actually touched him before, let alone have him touch you back. It made your heart beat faster, and you were sure he must’ve felt it even through his breastplate. You could feel the Child grasping at your shirt, wanting to be included in the hug, and Mando shifted him higher until he was resting between the both of you, chirping contentedly at the warmth.

“You seem tired,” you whispered, unable to stand the silence anymore. His body felt like it was fighting to stay upright, and you would’ve thought his grasp on you would be a little stronger. 

“I am,” Din responded in your ear. His voice was weary, like his felt it in his bones. You pulled away and looked through the visor on his helmet. 

In that moment, you wished with every fiber in your body that you could see his eyes.

Instead, you stood and gently lifted the Child out of Din’s grasp cradling him next to your heart. “You rest,” you told Din. “I’ll put him to bed.”

It wasn’t until you turned away that you realized how ‘wifely’ you sounded. 

And you shivered because you could feel Din’s eyes watching your retreating back as you walked to the back of the ship.

* * *

The night was cold. Colder than you anticipated.

The Child was asleep in the ship, so it was just you and Din outside. You hadn’t realized how exhausted you were until you threw yourself heavily onto the ground, letting a weary sigh escape as you extended your hands to the flames, trying to get warm. You felt something brushing your back and you looked up to see Din standing over you, letting a blanket drop onto your shoulders. He stared at you for a moment before going to sit on a crate beside you. You wished, not for the first time, that you could see his face, because there was something in his movements that made you suddenly very aware of how close his body was as he sat next to you.

Something changed in your relationship today, but you were too afraid to admit what it was. If it was voiced out loud, it would become a reality.

And you didn’t know if he felt the same.

Your eyes watched the flames dance, lost in your thoughts, and you found yourself humming a familiar melody as you were lulled into a relaxed state.

“What is that?” His words were almost caressing.

“Just a song,” you murmured, mesmerized by the fire. “From back home.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Not so much anymore.” You glanced up and met the black slits of the beskar helmet. How truthful were you willing to be with him now? How could you tell him that your time with him and the Child felt more like a home than anything else you’d ever known? You forced your eyes not to look away from him as you spoke plainly, hoping he could see the sincerity on your face. “Not when I’m here with you.”

His helmet shook as he nodded. “Good.”

Before you knew what was happening, you felt him take the blanket and wrap it more firmly around you, maneuvering himself so you sat between his knees with your head resting on his thigh. It was comfortable and intimate. You thought that anyone who happened upon the two of you now would take you for a pair of lovers enjoying the night, as their child slept peacefully in the ship. 

Father, mother and child.

Mando huffed from inside his helmet. You could swear you felt him smiling at your thoughts.

“A family,” he murmured, and tugged you closer into the circle of his arms.

A family, you thought with a grin. 

A home.


End file.
